Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

Wine Club 30 July

We’ve some wonderful summery wines this week, each one from France. Not deliberately so: it’s just that these six wines — from Alsace, Loire, Bordeaux and beyond — were easily the best in our tasting. And I reckon they show that France on song is pretty much unbeatable and (thanks here, I admit, to some very generous discounts) great value.

First, the 2015 Sauvignon de Touraine, Domaine Bellevue (1), a lemon-fresh, really rather tropical Sauvignon Blanc produced but a stone’s throw from the dreamiest of all Loire Valley châteaux: Chenonceau. Patrick Vauvy is the fourth generation of his family to make wine in Noyers-sur-Cher and his wines are noted for their elegance and exuberance. If the mineral-rich, south-facing vineyards were a few hundred metres further south-east, it would be classified as Sancerre and a heck of a lot pricier. £8.50 down from £9.49.

If there’s one region in France I love above all others, it’s Alsace. Gascony runs it close but Alsace, well, Alsace is the tops. I’m just back from there and as I sat in a Colmar winstub knocking off a bottle of Pinot Blanc and stuffing my fat face with a belt–straining choucroute garnie, I vowed to make a greater effort to drink more Alsace wine back home. I’m going to start with the fabulous 2014 Pinot Blanc, Domaine de la Ville de Colmar (2). Deliciously scented on the nose, it’s full of spicy, honeyed, creamy fruit — peaches and custard apples — backed by an exhilarating fresh acidity. Just about perfect. £11.50 down from £13.49.

Frédéric Salin and Jean-Luc Zuger (owner of Third Growth Château Malescot-Saint-Exupéry in Bordeaux) have spent ten years developing Domaine de Tamary into something special, and the 2015 Domaine de Tamary Rosé (3) is everything a fine Côtes de Provence rosé should be.

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